Man charged with nursing home murder withdrew his confession prior to arrest, records show

A Kentucky nursing home worker who admitted to murdering residents in 2007 retracted his confession before his arrest, according to recently released court records that shed new light on what may have motivated both the crime and the worker's decision to come clean.

David Satterfield, a certified medical technician, turned himself in to Louisville police in January. Initially, he said he injected three residents of Parkway Medical Center with insulin because he was high on a prescription painkiller, according to local news reports that cite the newly released records. There was no other motive, he said.

He retracted his confession under further questioning, the news reports state. Knowing he has a terminal illness and inadequate medical care, interrogators asked if this was why he was seeking to enter the corrections system. He said yes and then tried to cast suspicion on other Parkway staff members, according to Louisville CBS affiliate WLKY. Satterfield had been a temporary employee working at Parkway through a staffing agency.

Unconvinced by his retraction, police arrested Satterfield and charged him with murder.

Adding to concerns over what might motivate these types of crimes — and how to guard against them — investigations have proved fruitless in a similar case in Australia. Authorities there believe that two nursing home residents were killed by insulin injection, but they have not made any arrests.